A Wind Turbine Turns Dry Desert Air Into Precious Drinkable Water

There’s water everywhere on earth, but most is undrinkable or inaccessible. A new kind of wind turbine takes the water in the air and puts it into a form we can imbibe.

Eole Water, has successfully tested a wind turbine as a source of fresh water and renewable energy. Field trials in Abu Dhabi are yielding 132 to 211 gallons daily, and the company’s marketing director Thibault Janin says in the magazine Rechargethat “the results have been very good.” The results “would be even better, of course, if it was placed in coastal or offshore areas where there is higher humidity and more wind.”

Resembling a conventional wind turbine, Eole’s nacelle actually houses a compressor, water condensers, and heating devices. The turbine heats the air before it is condensed to extract and siphon off the moisture into tanks where it is treated. The hot air is simply blown out of vents, and surplus electricity sent to the grid.

The technology, under development for a decade, has already attracted interest from a host of major companies such as Siemens and Danfoss. The companies are keen on selling to solutions to the millions of communities around the world that remain without clean water, as well as the ones that are confronting water shortages in the future.